Cycle Class For the Non-Cycler

So, once again I got roped in. Spin class, 5 o’clock Rocklin. It’s really at 5:15pm but my friend knows I run 15 minutes late practically everywhere I go. I walk into the room, it’s kind of cold, dark. First thought: huh, it’s kind of cave-like. I approach the last row, naturally since I’m already skeptical of spin to begin with. I like sticking to what I’m confident with: weights. I went up to one of the fancy spin bikes, which are apparently brand new and got assistance on how to adjust them (more so what a good adjustment even looks like because I literally have no clue what I’m doing). So, I get my bike set up, climb up and start slowly cycling. Second thought: this seat hurts my butt, I’m told that’s normal and will go away. I start a slow and easy warm up for a few minutes just getting used to the bike and the tension settings. Once the class got started, our instructor gave us a brief overview and cranked up the music.

The gal leading the class broke the workout down into pieces that we could conquer, one step at a time. I really liked that because it encouraged me to keep going. That was extremely helpful for me, because I didn’t realize how hard cycling was. It is a very challenging cardio workout. I also liked how much information the cycling bikes had. It broke down much of your workout so you could continue to challenge yourself. I focused on my rotations because I wanted to make sure I was working hard enough.

I found myself surprised at how much of a workout it was. I was sweating like crazy, and at that point, I was extremely grateful for how cool they keep that room. I kept looking over at my workout buddy, an experienced cyclist (and the one who convinced me to go) trying to keep up. I couldn’t even stay within the same worlds on our rotations. It was obvious she was seasoned on the bikes. And that’s okay. I realized how nice it was having a friend with me to try out something new and venture into a new realm of cross-training.

AUTHOR BIO: Misha is a California Family Fitness member who frequents the Rocklin Sports Complex, Arden and Orangevale locations. She’s also a very busy mama to three adventurous boys under the age of six.